As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Monday, 17 July 2017

UK and Irish seabirds search area size of Spain for food

7 July 2017

By New Scientist staff and Press
Association

Satellite-tracking of hundreds of
British and Irish seabirds has revealed new insights into where species search
for food at sea.

The study, which tracked and
modelled behaviour of kittiwakes, shags, razorbills and guillemots, could help
assess potential impacts from offshore wind farms and other activities and
where protected areas of the seas should be.

Lightweight GPS tags were fitted
to more than 1,300 adult birds from 29 different colonies around the UK and
Ireland, to track where they went once they left their breeding colonies to
catch fish at sea.

The data was used to create a
computer model for each species to predict important areas at sea for other
colonies where no tracking took place, estimating where birds travelled from
some 5,500 breeding sites.

Results reveal the extensive
areas of sea the four seabird species use – at least 1.5 million square
kilometres, an area three times the size of Spain.